The Command Line Interface for Termcat

Yesterday I created the long overdue command line interface (CLI) for Termcat.

Usage: java -jar termcat.jar [options] <document[.tc]>

The HTML output is stored in document.html.

  -b, --browse   Open HTML output in browser

  -w, --watch    Watch document for changes and recompile when changed

  -v, --verbose  Use verbose output

(When running from source code, substitute 'lein run' for 'java -jar termcat.jar'.)

The most exciting thing here is the --watch switch. When activated, Termcat will first compile the source document to HTML and then watch for changes in the source file. Whenever the source is modified, Termcat automatically recompiles it.

Convenience aside, --watch has two performance benefits. First, it's not necessary to start Java every time you want to recompile a Termcat document. Second, Termcat keeps a cache around of intermediate results when watching a document. This means that Termcat doesn't need to reevaluate the entire document for every minor update (although it's currently not nearly as effective at this than I reckon it could be).

I'm also happy about the --browse option. When the --browse and --watch features are combined, Termcat automatically reloads the browser every time it recompiles the Termcat document. This means you get live previews of your Termcat documents out of the box!

lein run --verbose --watch --browse blog-post.tc

Compiling... (Elapsed time: 737.621 msecs; cache size: 410 items)

HTML output stored in blog-post.html

Watching for changes...

Recompiling... (Elapsed time: 457.546 msecs; cache size: 500 items)

Recompiling... (Elapsed time: 26.785 msecs; cache size: 500 items)

Recompiling... (Elapsed time: 404.613 msecs; cache size: 502 items)

Recompiling... (Elapsed time: 17.539 msecs; cache size: 502 items)

Termcat uses Java's WatchService API for tracking document modifications. The cache is based on soft references.

Thanksgiving

Last week was a short week at Hacker School because of the holidays. I had an amazing first Thanksgiving indeed, but I also got some work done.

Last week I started porting my theorem prover to ClojureScript. My intention is to create a web-based front end for my theorem prover using D3.js to draw tableaux and models. I'm cautiously optimistic that this won't be too much work as my tableaux and models are nothing more than labeled DAGs.

My porting efforts came to a temporary halt when I encountered a bug in ClojureScript. This led me to take a closer look at the ClojureScript codebase—a productive distraction that resulted in a patch by yours truly.

I have also started working on a manual for Termcat.

Additionally, I have been working on a new rewriting system for Termcat that should be more powerful, easier to understand, and faster than the system that's in place now. The downside is that it has subtly different semantics and this means I can't just assume my current rules will keep working when I switch rewriting systems. I might be in for a bumpy ride!